A STUDY OF OBSESSION AND MADNESS... FOXCATCHER...

Oh boy, I have been wanting to catch up with this bad boy for a while. This got chins wagging back in the Oscar season, remember… First it was Steve Carells unbelievable performance as the archetypal (real life ) crazy millionaire John Du Pont. Carell, by and large known for his comic performances shot right to the top of the Oscar nominations list with his performance, and incidentally with his make-up. Or rather his make-up shot to the top of nominations without him, it is after all a different category. Then there was the whole scandal about Channing Tatum getting snubbed in the best supporting actor category. You know shit just got awkward when even Mark Ruffalo who got nominated instead of him openly says Tatum has been snubbed. And then, then there was the whole matter with the real life Mark Schultz who withdrew his support from the film shortly after its release. Having seen the film he was warned that the film could potentially portray him as gay and strongly opposed to any such thing being the case. Though to be honest everyone also noticed that Schultz was rather opportunely pointing towards his own interviews and books he had contributed to as an alternative source… Mmm… Anyway, you will recall it definitely made its own fair share of ripples, not least because it actually is – that old favorite of mine – a true story.  A story of madness and murder – a favorite of the general public too now you mention it! Oh and yeah, there is the odd bit of wrestling thrown in…

David and Mark Schultz are a brother team of great renown in the wrestling world. Both are Olympic gold medal winners but David (Mark Ruffalo) is generally seen as the superior talent and definitely a much better coach and trainer than Mark (Channing Tatum) who is more hot-headed and definitely full of resentment at not being able to escape his brothers shadow. It is for this reason that when, seemingly quite out of the blue, he is approached by eccentric millionaire John du pont (Steve Carell) he sees in his proposition an opportunity to finally strike out on his own and succeed. The stakes are high- du pont wants to be the coach of the American wrestling team that is sent to the 1988 Olympic games. He wants David to be a part of it and to help coach the team. He will spare absolutely no expense in doing so. For David, living alone in a tiny flat and living off the American equivalent of pot noodles, it’s a whole new world… But it is also the beginning of a relationship tinged with drug abuse, obsession and ambition that will prove extremely destructive in more ways than one…

First of all, let us get the most obvious bit out of the way. The wrestling. I cannot stress enough that this is not a sports film. The wrestling is, in fact, almost incidental – although goodness knows du pont himself would be very displeased with that. This is a very insightful and fascinating look at obsession and how it pushes people to react. Carell must have jumped for joy as an actor when he got the part of Du pont – what a character! Basically a real life Norman Bates (only with added millions of dollars and gigantic estate), Du pont – well into middle age – is ruled by his mother Jean (played rather superbly by Vanessa Redgrave) and deep down wants nothing more than to rebel against her. In his quest, he has come up with a sport she would definitely disapprove of, and that would set him apart from her (she breeds prize racehorses) and becomes completely obsessed with becoming the best in the world at it – so he is not only rebelling but in fact overshadowing her as he does it… And he has the resources that enable him to not stop at anything to achieve this goal…

Then of course there is the whole dynamic between Mark and David, the eternal story of sibling rivalry. Both actors do a superb job of their parts. And I really don’t care how much stick you give Tatum about the Magic Mike franchise – the man can act. And boy can he move. I am not just talking about how good looking he is (and let’s face it ladies and gents he is DAMN good looking) he just has a talent of moving fluidly and looking damn good while he does it. The one piece of criticism I will put across however is that the character of David is a little too perfect. He seems to be the archetypal benign older brother, perfect coach and father. I mean, I never knew the guy, maybe he actually was like that. But I have a nasty suspicion that there is some level of whitewashing – so to speak – going on in the light of, not to give out too many spoilers, what happens next…

Foxcatcher sustains a very robust level of tension throughout. It had me on the edge of my seat throughout and the successful way it sustained the psychological tension between this extraordinary and larger than life characters was a large part of it. It is a wonderful study of the human  mind set against one of the most competitive strands of an already competitive industry (professional sport). I personally found it both hair-raising and thought provoking. And I promise you, you will, at the very least, get what all the fuss is about…  

SHUTTER ISLAND

Now, here is another film that was much “hyped” about, especially where I live. Being the person I am, the fact that it was “hyped” gave me that “oh well, I’ll get round to it” kinda feeling. Doesn’t really make sense when you think about it: Martin Scorsese – a director I love ; Leonardo Di Caprio and Ben Kingsley – two actors I adore. (Incidentally, aren’t you getting the impression that the Martin Scorsese and Leonardo Di Caprio team is turning into something akin to “Tim Burton – Johnny Depp”? I sure hope so, they work so well together!) Anyway, I still resisted. Then a colleague – and a cinephile whose opinion I admire – insisted I watch it saying I was a fool to wait so long. I had a couple of hours spare (it was a slow day at work) and had the movie close to hand so I “conceded”. I honestly have no idea what was wrong with me – refusing to watch a Scorsese film indeed… Whatever next…

The year is 1954. And Shutter Island is, in fact, the name of an island in Boston. On it, there is an institution for the criminally the insane. From this institution, a dangerous criminal has escaped and U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels has been sent to secure her. Major Daniels is an excellent Marshall, but like all of us, he has his dark spots. He is traumatized by his experiences of the liberation of the Dachau Concentration camps and the death of his beloved wife (another old favorite – Michelle Williams!) but keeps the two events apart as best he can. Along with his brand new partner Chuck (Mark Ruffalo – I like this guy, he keeps turning up as a familiar face in an array of different movies) he arrives at Shutter Island to recover the escapee. All seems to be going well, Dr. John Cawley, the head of the institute is friendly and helpful… However, it will soon become clear that Shutter Island is a lot more than it first pretends to be… Everyone seems to have some ulterior motive. Marshall Daniels is determined to get to the truth, and he will succeed. The truth he gets to, however, is something way beyond his wildest imaginings…

Now, I watched this film after I watched Inception. And in a funny kind of way I’m glad I did. Because the moment I finished watching Shutter Island, it became very clear to me that this was exactly the kind of film I expected Inception to be. (read my opinion on Inception here) There are many similarities between the two films. I will not go into detail incase you haven’t watched one or the other but if you have watched both just sit back and compare Dominic Cobb and Teddy Daniels. The similarities are so great that until the last half hour of Shutter Island I was actually disappointed, thinking Mr. Di Caprio was on the verge of being typecast. The topics are similar as well, I mean think about it, outsiders, breaking into a secure place connected with the human mind, searching for information…

Ok, I get it, if you’re exploring concepts such as “reality / dreams /subconscious /unconscious” it makes sense on a level to not arrive at a conclusion. However, with such fertile ground as the human mind as a stage, there is a lot of room for a big surprise, to turn the film, the story on its head… Mr. Scorsese has chosen this particular path – and boy will he turn you on your heads… Until the last half hour of the film, I expected pretty much what I got from Inception – an exciting Hollywood flick (minus the special effects). It is nothing like most things I have ever seen… A must…

TRUE STORY OF THE WEEK : "ZODIAC"

Ok, we seem to have got off to a nice little start with Jamie Oliver. Cooking, nice and homely, warm kitchens… Fancy a change of tone? How about a serial killer? A real one of course…

Those of you who have been following me for longer, (if you’re out there, I’m kinda hurt no one ever writes comments on this dang page but oh well…) anyway, those of you who have been reading this blog for longer must have spotted my penchant for true stories. Those of you who are into the genre (or know about it) may have suspected I am also into true crime. Well, I have news for you: I am; BIG TIME. It’s sort of ghoulish but well… I just can’t help it. And the Zodiac murders are now officially stuff of legend – not least because the identity of the killer is still unknown… Celebrated Hollywood director David Fincher was a child in the San Francisco area just around the time the killer was active – so was able to experience the terror that gripped the city first hand. Having then gone on to direct such dark yet wonderful classics as Seven, The Game and Fight Club, I personally think there was no one better qualified to take on telling the story of the Zodiac. And with big time names like Jake Gyllenhaal and Mark Ruffalo on the “roll call” who could resist this film… I mean, be honest…

Ok now for those of you who either were not alive at the time or do not share my interest in true crime, here is a “what the film is all about”: Between December 1968 and October 1969, the San Francisco bay area was terrorized by a hooded killer. Apparently picking his victims at random, pretty much the way a hunter would, he claimed the lives of five people (experts can agree on a total of seven victims, two of these survived. There are also numerous suspected victims). He also wrote letters to the press to be printed – namely the San Francisco Chronicle sometimes in code (very good code at that) sometimes not, making various threats the most famous being ambushing a school bus, causing much alarm among parents. The fact that the Zodiac (for thus he signed himself) claimed to have murdered 37 people and the fact that he was never actually identified only made him more feared. Authorities continued receiving communication from the Zodiac until the late seventies. Although a prime suspect exists officially no one can prove or say who the Zodiac killer actually was. The film centers round two characters Robert Graysmith who worked in the Chronicle at the time and David Tosci – one of the detectives assigned to the case…

So, what do I make of it? Well, rest assured, the film lives up to its big names. Both Jake Gyllenhaal – as Robert Graysmith who became completely obsessed with the case, and then the leading expert on the Zodiac murders and Mark Ruffalo as David Tosci who was dragged above and beyond the line of duty thanks to Graysmith are in a word superb. And David Fincher is as usual, a master of creating atmospheres. The killings are present, naturally, but not overpowering – this is not a gore flick. It is the suspense, the growing yet fruitless hunt, the taunting letters and the fear gripping the hearts of the public that dominate the film. We watch with baited breath as Graysmith makes breakthrough after breakthrough, struggle with him as he tries desperately to make Tosci and the rest of the police take him seriously and yet, of course common sense dictates that he will fail – to this day the identity of the Zodiac killer is not known for sure…

I can understand if you feel the idea of watching a movie on real live murders is a little too much for you. But frankly, look at it this way, we watch a lot of war films do we not? And are a lot of said war films based on true stories – true wars? What about the news? Death and carnage surround us and there we don’t even have the comfort of being faced with Oscar nominee actors, there the events are REALLY real. Taken in that context, to my way of thinking, Zodiac is no gorier than any other cop-flick you have ever watched. It just has an added “brrr” factor when you stop and think about it… And believe me you will think about it. Mr Fincher, my congratulations sir, you have done it again =)